Rick Perry Agrees To Meet With Obama On Border Crisis

President Barack Obama and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) will participate in what's likely to be a tense meeting on Wednesday regarding the humanitarian crisis at the border, after the governor accused the president of causing the situation.

After initially turning down the White House's offer for Perry to meet Obama when he lands in Austin, Texas, the governor's office announced Perry will attend a separate meeting on the border crisis.

"Governor Perry is pleased that President Obama has accepted his invitation to discuss the humanitarian and national security crises along our southern border, and he looks forward to meeting with the president tomorrow," Perry spokesman Felix Browne said Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

Perry had previously criticized the White House's request for what he called a "a quick handshake on the tarmac," but said he would be open to a more substantive meeting. He will join an already scheduled meeting in Dallas with the president, local officials and religious leaders to discuss the border situation.

Texas is facing significant increases in immigrants, many of them unaccompanied minors, crossing the border illegally from Mexico. Perry has said Obama is to blame for a "failure of leadership," and has even gone so far as to imply there could be some type of conspiracy.

"We either have an incredibly inept administration, or they're in on this somehow or another," Perry said last month, according to the Austin American-Statesman. "I mean I hate to be conspiratorial, but I mean how do you move that many people from Central America across Mexico and then into the United States without there being a fairly coordinated effort?"

At the CNBC debate on November 9, Perry <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rick-perry-oops-video_n_1085336" target="_hplink">famously forgot</a> one of the government agencies he would eliminate if elected:
"It's three government agencies when I get there that are gone: Commerce, Education and the um, what's the third one there. Let's see," Perry said. He turned to Texas Rep. Ron Paul, looking for some help, but got nothing but a remark from Paul that he would eliminate five agencies.
"Oh five," Perry said. "So Commerce, Education, and, uh, the uh, um, um."
"EPA?" offered former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"EPA, there ya go," Perry said as the room exploded in laughter.
CNBC moderator John Harwood honed in and pressed Perry: "Seriously? Is EPA the one you were talking about?"
"No sir. No sir. We were talking about the, um, agencies of government," Perry said. "The EPA needs to be rebuilt."
"But you can't name the third one?" Harwood persisted.
"The third agency of government," Perry said. "I would do away with the education, the um, Commerce, and let's see. I can't think of the third one. I can't. Sorry. Oops."